Quantitative Analysis of Micro-structural Changes in a Bituminous Coal After Exposure to Supercritical CO2 and Water

Natural Resources Research - High-volatile bituminous coal samples were reacted in deionized water with supercritical CO2 (ScCO2–water) under simulated in situ pressure and temperature...     

Clinoform architecture and along‐strike facies variability through an exhumed erosional to accretionary basin margin transition

Exhumed basin margin‐scale clinothems provide important archives for understanding process interactions and reconstructing the physiography of sedimentary basins. However, studies of coeval shelf through slope to basin‐floor deposits are rarely documented, mainly due to outcrop or subsurface dataset limitations. Unit G from the Laingsburg depocentre (Karoo Basin, South Africa) is a rare example of a complete basin margin scale clinothem (>60 km long, 200 m‐high), with >10 km of depositional strike control, which allows a quasi‐3D study of a preserved shelf‐slope‐basin floor transition over a ca. 1,200 km² area. Sand‐prone, wave‐influenced topset deposits close to the shelf‐edge rollover zone can be physically mapped down dip for ca. 10 km as they thicken and transition into heterolithic foreset/slope deposits. These deposits progressively fine and thin over tens of km farther down dip into sand‐starved bottomset/basin‐floor deposits. Only a few km along strike, the coeval foreset/slope deposits are bypass‐dominated with incisional features interpreted as minor slope conduits/gullies. The margin here is steeper, more channelized and records a stepped profile with evidence of sand‐filled intraslope topography, a preserved base‐of‐slope transition zone and sand‐rich bottomset/basin‐floor deposits. Unit G is interpreted as part of a composite depositional sequence that records a change in basin margin style from an underlying incised slope with large sand‐rich basin‐floor fans to an overlying accretion‐dominated shelf with limited sand supply to the slope and basin floor. The change in margin style is accompanied with decreased clinoform height/slope and increased shelf width. This is interpreted to reflect a transition in subsidence style from regional sag, driven by dynamic topography/inherited basement configuration, to early foreland basin flexural loading. Results of this study caution against reconstructing basin margin successions from partial datasets without accounting for temporal and spatial physiographic changes, with potential implications on predictive basin evolution models.     

Sediment routing in the Zagros foreland basin: Drainage reorganization and a shift from axial to transverse sediment dispersal in the Kurdistan region of Iraq

In the northwestern sector of the Zagros foreland basin, axial fluvial systems initially delivered fine-grained sediments from northwestern source regions into a contiguous basin, and later transverse fluvial systems delivered coarse-grained sediments from northeastern sources into a structurally partitioned basin by fold-thrust deformation. Here we integrate sedimentologic, stratigraphic, palaeomagnetic and geochronologic data from the northwestern Zagros foreland basin to define the Neogene history of deposition and sediment routing in response to progressive advance of the Zagros fold-thrust belt. This study constrains the depositional environments, timing of deposition and provenance of nonmarine clastic deposits of the Injana (Upper Fars), Mukdadiya (Lower Bakhtiari) and Bai-Hasan (Upper Bakhtiari) Formations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Sediments of the Injana Formation (~12.4–7.75 Ma) were transported axially (orogen-parallel) from northwest to southeast by meandering and low-sinuosity channel belt system. In contrast, during deposition of the Mukdadiya Formation (~7.75–5 Ma), sediments were delivered transversely (orogen-perpendicular) from northeast to southwest by braided and low-sinuosity channel belt system in distributive fluvial megafans. By ~5 Ma, the northwestern Zagros foreland basin became partitioned by growth of the Mountain Front Flexure and considerable gravel was introduced in localized alluvial fans derived from growing topographic highs. Foredeep accumulation rates during deposition of the Injana, Mukdadiya and Bai-Hasan Formations averaged 350, 400 and 600 m/Myr respectively, suggesting accelerated accommodation generation in a rapidly subsiding basin governed by flexural subsidence. Detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra show that in addition to sources of Mesozoic-Cenozoic cover strata, the Injana Formation was derived chiefly from Palaeozoic-Precambrian (including Carboniferous and latest Neoproterozoic) strata in an axial position to the northwest, likely from the Bitlis-Puturge Massif and broader Eastern Anatolia. In contrast, the Mukdadiya and Bai-Hasan Formations yield distinctive Palaeogene U-Pb age peaks, particularly in the southeastern sector of the study region, consistent with transverse delivery from the arc-related terranes of the Walash and Naopurdan volcano-sedimentary groups (Gaveh-Rud domain?) and Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc to the northeast. These temporal and spatial variations in stratigraphic framework, depositional environments, sediment routing and compositional provenance reveal a major drainage reorganization during Neogene shortening in the Zagros fold-thrust belt. Whereas axial fluvial systems initially dominated the foreland basin during early orogenesis in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, transverse fluvial systems were subsequently established and delivered major sediment volumes to the foreland as a consequence of the abrupt deformation advance and associated topographic growth in the Zagros.     

Flexural deformation controls on Late Quaternary sediment dispersal in the Garo-Rajmahal Gap,NW Bengal Basin

Subsurface deformation is a driver for river path selection when deformation rates become comparable to the autogenic mobility rate of rivers. Here we combine geomorphology, soil and sediment facies analyses, and geophysical data of the Late Quaternary sediments of the central Garo-Rajmahal Gap in Northwest Bengal to link subsurface deformation with surface processes. We show variable sedimentation characteristics, from slow rates (<0.8 mm/year) in the Tista megafan at the foot of the Himalaya to nondeposition at the exposed surface of the Barind Tract to the south, enabling the development of mature soils. Combined subsidence in the Tista fan and uplift of the Barind Tract are consistent with a N-S flexural response of the Indian plate to loading of the Himalaya Mountains given a low value of elastic thickness (15–25 km). Provenance analysis based on bulk strontium concentration suggests a dispersal of sediment consistent with this flexural deformation—in particular the abandonment of the Barind Tract by a Pleistocene Brahmaputra River and the current extents of the Tista megafan lobes. Overall, these results highlight the control by deeply rooted deformation patterns on the routing of sediment by large rivers in foreland settings.     

The Reliability of Using the Iterative Proportional Fitting Procedure*

This paper demonstrates the utility of the iterative proportional fitting procedure (IPF) in generating disaggregated spatial data from aggregated data and evaluates the performance of the procedure. Estimates of individual level data created by IPF using data of equal-interval categories are reliable, but the performance of the estimation can be improved by increasing sample size. The improvement usually is enough to offset the increase in error created by other factors. If the two variables defining the cross-classification have a significant interaction effect and the number of categories in each variable is larger than two, then IPF is preferred over an independent model.     

Crustal thicknesses in Fennoscandia

b
As a supplement to seismic profiling surveys, crustal thicknesses have been estimated for 11 Fennoscandian seismograph stations equipped with three-component long period instruments, using the so-called spectral ratio technique of Phinney. The largest Moho depths, of the order of 45 km, were found for stations located in the north-east areas of Norway and Sweden and in Finland, with a local maximum in the Bothnian Bay. The coastal area of south-east Norway and Zealand, Denmark exhibit crustal thicknesses in the range 28–33 km. The agreement between our results and those obtained by conventional refraction profiling is good, when this comparison is restricted to profiles of lengths 300 km or more, and when the associated crustal thickness estimate is averaged over the central parts of the profiles in question. Also, a comparison between our results and other available geophysical information gives that the oldest tectonic provinces of the Baltic Shield also are characterized by relatively modest heat flow, and exhibit the greatest crustal thicknesses. Post-glacial uplift data and large wavelength free air gravity data appear to be uncorrelated with crustal thickness. The same partly applies to Bouguer gravity anomalies, thus implying that the isostatic compensation mechanism in Fennoscandia is of both Airy and Pratt type.     

Contemporary urbanization and an optimal size for Soviet cities

This article is an English translation of the work cited in 46: 3092. The authors review the conclusions of Pivovarov (see 44: Title 3118) concerning the nature of the urbanization process and optimal city size in the USSR. The relationship between urbanization and the characteristics of a given socioeconomic system is examined, and the possibility of determining optimal size for cities of different functional types is evaluated     

AN HISTORICAL APPROACH TO MOBILITY RESEARCH *

Most existing work on residential mobility has assumed that the household relocation decision is an intrinsically significant object of inquiry. In contrast, we argue that mobility derives its significance primarily from the particular historical and locational contexts within which it occurs. We suggest, therefore, that future mobility research should be directed away from the development of a theory of mobility per se and toward a more explicit articulation of mobility studies to existing theories of urbanization and social change.